The Two Wheeled Tricycle
by the-little-guru
Summary: Mako looked up at a row of picturesque dwellings, right in the suburbs of Republic City. It seemed awfully boring, away from the hustle and bustle of city life, away from traffic, and noise, and anything of interest at all. Why had Bolin and Opal chosen to move here, so soon after their wedding? Written for Season 3 Round 1 of the Probending Circuit.
A/N:

Airbender: Write about someone being a third wheel.

(character) Opal

(quote) "Three things cannot be hidden: the sun, the moon and the truth" - Buddha

(object) tricycle

(Element) air

Word Count: 1,188

* * *

Mako squinted at the sloppy handwriting on a little note card, barely able to make out the address that his brother had written down. It had been about ten weeks since Bolin and Opal's marriage, and about two months month since Mako's last visit, right before the two bought a house.

Mako looked up at a row of picturesque dwellings, right in the suburbs of Republic City. It seemed awfully boring, away from the hustle and bustle of city life; away from traffic, and noise, and anything of interest at all. Why had Bolin and Opal chosen to move here, so soon after their wedding?

After only a week and a half of a honeymoon, the newlyweds had bought a house in the most domestic, residential area in the entire United Republic. Mako was surprised, seeing that both Bolin and Opal loved travel, and adventure, and fun. In fact, Mako expected Bolin to wait until he was at least twenty five before even tying the knot with Opal. To Mako, married life brought images of financial stress and children, not something that _he'd_ want to be carrying around at the spare age of twenty four.

Finally, at the end of the block, Mako spotted carefully crafted silver numbers embedded in a stone door. It looked like the careful work of Opal's mother, and Mako walked up the stone driveway.

On the doorstep, there was a wooden box with no sticker or label. Mako tried to pick it up and cringed as the box tilted to the side and rattled with a cacophony of crashing metal bits. He hastily stepped back, hoping that nothing was broken.

Suddenly, the door slid open, and Bolin stood in the doorway, gaping slightly.

"Uh, hey Mako," he said with an awkward smile, "We weren't expecting you until a little later today."

"Oh, yeah, sorry," he said, "I finished my work, so I thought I'd just drop by."

"Bro," sighed Bolin, patting him on the shoulder, "You gotta get out more! Every time I see you, it's all about work."

"I like working."

"Yeah, yeah, okay." said Bolin, stepping to the side, "Come in! I'll get the box."

"Uh, it's heavy-"

"Hi Mako!" said Opal with a radiant smile, before rushing over to Bolin, "Here, I'll get that." she said.

"But Opal, you shouldn't!"

"Oh c'mon, it's not like I'm crippled or anything." she said with uncharacteristic impatience, steering Bolin away by the shoulder.

Opal spun her hands around and generated a small tornado around the box, lifting it a foot in the air. Mako felt the cool breeze swirl about his ankles.

Slowly, she brought the box into the center of their dining room and let it land with another crash on the wooden boards.

"Hey Bo," she said, "Can you get a knife or something?"

"Sure."

"So, what's in there?" asked Mako as Bolin walked away.

"Um, it's supposed to be a tricycle, but I guess it's disassembled or something." she said, right as Bolin arrived.

"Here, sweetie." he said, sitting down next to her. He pried open the box and a mess of metal tubes tumbled out. Mako stiffened a little at how casually Bolin used endearments around Opal.

"Yeesh, you'd think that they'd at least label the parts." said Opal as she examined a sack of bolts.

"Maybe there's an instruction manual here." said Bolin, leaning in closer to her.

Mako seated himself on the couch and rubbed the back of his neck in discomfort. Opal and Bolin hadn't changed much since they'd first gotten together five years ago. Back then, they'd been fully absorbed in each other too, _passionately in love_ or whatever the hell they called it.

He remembered the time when Opal came to Republic City to practice her airbending with Tenzin, on Air Temple Island.

At least, she was _supposed_ to be staying at Air Temple Island.

Instead, she snuck out almost every night and came to visit Bolin in their rinky-dink little apartment in Dragon Flats, the crappiest district in Republic City. The crappiest district with the crappiest housing. Their house was cheap and low quality and uninsulated, which meant the walls were thin. _Very_ thin. _Very_ sound permitting.

Needless to say, Mako felt more than a little traumatized when Opal came for her first 'night-time visit.' In fact, he rushed out of their apartment as quickly as possible, hoping to find a criminal to fight, if only to remove the horrifying audio that kept replying in his head.

He was almost glad when the United Republic police force sent him over to babysit Prince Wu all the way in Ba Sing Se.

"Hey, what's a...carriage bolt?" asked Opal, breaking Mako out of his thoughts. He looked over and noticed that she and Bolin had made no progress assembling the tricycle.

Wait...why did they even _have_ a tricycle?

Mako opened his mouth to ask, but his brother and Opal looked so absorbed with what they were doing, sitting side by side like the perfect married couple. He shut his mouth again. Perhaps when the pair finished assembling it, they would tell him.

"That's not the biggest problem," said Bolin, who seemed to be in a slight state of panic, "I can't find the third wheel! Where's the third wheel?"

 _The third wheel is sitting right behind you._ thought Mako petulantly. _He'd_ felt like the third wheel from the very start.

"Bolin, did you even order a _tricycle_?" snapped Opal, "Because I didn't get to see what you were doing in the store that day!"

"Um, I _may_ have ordered a bicycle..." said Bolin sheepishly, flinching as Opal's glare intensified, "But that's okay!"

"No, it's NOT!"

"Calm down, calm down, we can put training wheels on it-"

"But it's not as good as good as a tricycle!"

"Hey, you never know," said Bolin with a soothing hand on Opal's shoulder, "Maybe our kid will have good balance. Maybe we don't _need_ a third wheel-"

"WHAT!?" cried Mako, making the two of them jump like they'd forgotten he was there, "Your WHAT? Did you say your _KID?"_

Bolin and Opal turned around, frozen and lost for words.

"Opal's pregnant? Since when?"

"A while ago." said Bolin vaguely. Mako glared at him, and Bolin stared resolutely at the ground. "Before the wedding." he mumbled.

"Why didn't you tell me?" snapped Mako, "I'm your brother, I'm supposed to know this stuff!"

"Uh, I was uh, busy doing some-something else." said Bolin, rubbing the back of his neck. Opal flushed pink. Mako slapped himself on the forehead.

Suddenly, everything became crystal clear; the hasty wedding, the suburban house, the secrecy, Opal's moodiness, the _tricycle_ …

Some things cannot be kept a secret! Three things cannot be hidden, the sun, the moon…

And the truth.

Bolin had not been truthful of late.

Mako lowered himself to the floor, level with Bolin and Opal, and his hand brushed something under the couch. He bent down and saw a small black tire.

"Here's your third wheel," said Mako crossly, handing the tire over to a mortified Bolin, "Now, now you two owe me an explanation."

* * *

Hope that was sufficiently awkward.

Review plez!


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